Dolls and Robots
by yvie
Summary: The day when Atobe Keigo found out some things about himself through spending time with Ryuzaki Sakuno. My second attempt at oneshots. A better attempt thanks to juliagulia1017.


_Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis._

**Author's words: This story is dedicated to juliagulia1017 for her tips on how to go about one-shots. I still have a long way to go though!**

**Dolls and Robots**

Five-year-old Ryuzaki Sakuno peeped out from behind her grandmother and looked timidly at the older boy who was standing next to his mother who was talking to her grandmother.

The boy had a confident expression on his face as if he knew everything and Sakuno was secretly impressed. He reminded her of the prince in picture books that she had gotten for her birthday.

Suddenly she realized her grandmother was talking to her and she was saying, "Sakuno, you'll be a good girl, okay? I'll come to pick you up later."

Little Sakuno was left with her mouth open as she watched her grandmother stroll away toward the entrance of the big house they were in.

She did not know what was going on until the boy's mother, a lovely woman with a kind expression, knelt in front of her and said, "Sakuno-chan, your grandmother has some work to do. Meanwhile, you can stay here and play with my little boy, Keigo. Keigo, come over here."

Atobe Keigo walked somewhat imperially towards them with his head held high and his expression aloft.

His mother was tempted to roll her eyes at her son. She did not know where he got his grandiose from and he was only seven years old too!

She stood up and pulled him closer and introduced him to wide-eyed little Sakuno, "This is my son, Keigo. He's seven years old and he'll keep you company and show you his toys while you are here, Sakuno-chan. Now, Keigo, I want you to be kind, okay?"

She then patted little Sakuno on the head and went off to do her own work.

The two children were left on their own in the grand entrance of the huge Atobe residence. They stared at each other in silence.

Actually, Keigo stared at Sakuno, while Sakuno had already lowered her eyes and was shyly looking at the polished floor.

Finally, Keigo decided to grace her with his voice, "Come on, I'll show you my toys, en?"

Sakuno looked up as the taller boy started to walk off towards the stairs. She padded after him with little steps, not being a very tall being.

Soon, Keigo could hear a shriek and a crash and he turned to see Sakuno flat on the floor. She had tripped over her own feet, something she had started to get used to.

He scowled with annoyance on his imperious little face and went over to help her up, since it was the right thing to do, saying, "Be careful, can't you?"

Sakuno rubbed her little nose which was a Rudolph-red and answered meekly, "H-hai, Keigo-niichan."

Keigo raised his eyebrows, which he had learned by watching his father, at that but he said nothing.

He supposed that it sounded quite nice. It gave him a most satisfactory feeling of superiority.

He took hold of her hand and started pulling her along to prevent any further accidents. Well, if she was calling him 'niichan' then he supposed he should look out for her since she was incapable of doing it herself.

They soon reached his playroom and he was very pleased to hear her little gasp of delight at the toys there. There were train sets, robots, cars, racetracks, video games with a huge TV, etc.

He was obviously impressing her and he realized that he quite liked that.

He was smiling smugly as Sakuno looked around, ohhing at this and ahhing at that.

She had never seen so many toys in one place before except for in the toyshop but even she knew that was different.

She looked around for her favorite type of toys: dolls for her favorite game of make-believe. She looked and looked and looked but she could not see them anywhere.

She trotted up to Keigo and looked at him shyly, wanting to ask him but not quite daring to.

Her face was very expressive though and little Keigo barked out, impatient as he waited for her to speak, "What, en?"

He decided he liked to have things quick and efficient if her example was the alternative.

Sakuno said, "Eh… ano, Keigo-niichan… ano ne… where are your dolls?"

Even young as he was, Atobe Keigo had rarely been surprised.

He was born composed and elegant as he later told himself but this time, he was struck speechless.

Dolls? Dolls? DOLLS?

Did she just ask him where his dolls were? HIS dolls?

Why would he have dolls? He was a boy!

Boys do not have dolls, only girls… Oh yeah, he forgot that she was a girl.

Well, if that was the case, then he supposed he could forgive her for that stupid question.

He said, "I don't have dolls, en?"

Sakuno said, not understanding, "B-but everyone has dolls!"

Keigo looked as aghast as a seven-year-old could and asked, "Who?"

Sakuno answered dutifully, "Tomo-chan, Miyu-chan and An-chan all have dolls."

Keigo said, "They're girls so it's alright for them to have dolls but I'm a boy so I don't have dolls, en?"

Sakuno looked shocked, "Boys don't have dolls!"

This was news to her and you know what they say about 'no news is good news' therefore if it was news, then it must be bad news.

In her life of five years and some, dolls were extremely important and Sakuno felt very sorry for the boy standing in front of her because he had no dolls and her lip started trembling.

Keigo had a bad feeling when he noticed her eyes started to blink rapidly. He was again taken aback when Sakuno started crying.

He did not know what to do because no one around him cried that easily. He said frantically, "Hey, what's wrong? Do you want to go home, en? What's wrong, Sakuno?"

Sakuno tried to say something between her wails. Keigo, with his superior intelligence and senses, made it out to be 'Then how do you play make-believe?'

He sighed, so that was her problem. Well, that was fine then because boys play make-believe too. They just never called it anything.

He said, "Stop crying, Sakuno. I play make-believe too."

Sakuno sniffed and looked doubtful but she did stop crying.

Keigo led her over to his robots and said that boys play make-believe with their robots with all the conviction of a knowledgeable seven-year-old.

Sakuno was suitably impressed again and Keigo was pleased. Then Sakuno asked him to show her how they played make-believe with robots and Keigo was thrice taken aback that day.

He did not like not knowing what exactly to answer. Boys' make-believe was filled with all the violence they could imagine and his mother had told him that if he kept that up, no girl would like him when he grew up.

He did not want that because he liked people adoring him.

Besides, Sakuno was so impressed with him. He liked that very much so he thought and came up with the perfect answer.

He said, "We play make-believe the same way as girls do."

Sakuno clapped her hands with joy and said, "Keigo-niichan, can we play make-believe with your robots?"

Keigo nodded vaguely as he thought, how did girls play make-believe anyway?

He thought that since it was a girl's game, then it should pose no problem to someone as clever as himself.

Thus he sat down on the floor with Sakuno and the two of them proceeded to play make-believe while they waited for the adults to come and fetch them.

It turned out to be the most difficult and embarrassing game Atobe Keigo had ever come across.

Later after little Sakuno had left, waving a happy goodbye to Keigo, he had asked his mother to get rid of all his robots because they were forever ruined.

His mother had wanted to ask him why but he had refused to answer with all the dignity he could muster in his seven-year-old self.

She found out why though, when she went to look at the robots in questions and saw them with ribbons and handkerchiefs posing as aprons.

That day, little Atobe Keigo found out some interesting things about himself.

He liked to impress people.

He loved to be looked up to.

He adored being superior.

He hated make believe.


End file.
